"What's wrong?"
Seeing no one answered, Zhao Jun wondered: "Does no one know?"
Still no one answered.
Because it concerns their own interests, their words are undoubtedly betrayers of the class. Moreover, they are not qualified to talk about these core contents here, so they all keep their mouths shut.
Zhao Zhen said in a deep voice: "Teacher Zhao, please tell me."
"Well, it's not that productivity has declined, but that social wealth has been plundered by a few people."
Zhao Jun shrugged and said: "During the Han Dynasty, land annexation was serious. The manor system became the mainstream farming method. Powerful families divided up a large amount of land. The number of ordinary farmers declined, resulting in a serious shortage of tax revenue. In addition, the borders were unstable and natural disasters continued, triggering civil strife. , the country was destroyed.”
Zhao Zhen wondered: "I have read very few history books about the Han Dynasty, and I don't know much about the inside story, so I would like to ask Teacher Zhao, why was there a serious shortage of tax revenue in the Han Dynasty?"
"That's a good question."
Zhao Jun said with a smile: "It is because the hidden houses, properties, and fields of the aristocratic families have become a means to avoid the court's taxes. The court cannot collect taxes and cannot support the army. The local people cannot survive, so naturally they can only gather people to rebel." .”
"Similar to this situation were the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, this problem was briefly solved through reforms, but it was only a short-term solution. Later, the prodigal Qianlong canceled the policy."
"On the contrary, the Tang and Song Dynasties were better able to collect taxes. The Tang Dynasty established a relatively complete tax system and the fiscal revenue was very healthy, so it was able to barely maintain the entire situation after the Anshi Rebellion."
"It's just that the problem of Jiedu envoys has become too big to be solved. Just like feudal vassal kings, they have the power to recruit troops and tax in their respective territories. As a result, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were created."
"The centralization of power was strengthened in the early Song Dynasty, and while inheriting the tax system from the Tang Dynasty, it was further improved. Agricultural taxes and commercial taxes could also be collected, which objectively maintained the rule of the Song Dynasty."
The fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty has always been the highest among all dynasties, so it is also known as the richest dynasty.
It's a pity that if you have money and don't do serious things, it has become one of the most useless and aggrieved dynasties. Together with the Jin Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, it is also known as one of the three humiliating dynasties. It means that you can only survive by being rich, otherwise Guozuo will not last long. .
Yan Shu pondered: "So the lack of tax revenue caused the Green Forest, Red Eyebrows, and Yellow Turbans to riot in the Han Dynasty?"
"Well, this is what I mean by fighting for the total value of social wealth. Productivity is only so large. The landlords and powerful classes have divided up a large amount of the cake, leaving very little for the emperor and the people. This is the so-called 80/20 rule. Two percent of the people own 80% of the wealth, and the more landless peasants there are, the more unstable the regime will be.”
Zhao Jun nodded: "Wang Mang wanted to change this situation, but he acted too hastily. Not only did he fail to curb land annexation, but he also aggravated internal strife. He offended the powerful landlord class and made people's lives more difficult. Under the increasingly acute social contradictions, Naturally, the Green Forest and Red Eyebrows revolted one after another. However, the powerful landlord class during the Han Dynasty was still too strong, so the peasant rebel army did not seize the country."
"Why is there such a situation?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"Because the powerful landlord class is still the master of social wealth. This was true in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Liu Xiu relied on the support of the powerful landlord class in Nanyang. Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others all came from wealthy families. Li Shimin was the aristocratic representative of the Guanlong Group. .”
Zhao Jun talked eloquently: "These people themselves have a large amount of wealth and resources, and they can use their capital to recruit soldiers and horses to join the team fighting for the world. Including the Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms period, They can be regarded as local warlords and powerful forces fighting for the world. Therefore, from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, those in power were representatives of aristocratic families, including Zhao Kuangyin."
Zhao Kuangyin was not born as a commoner. Among all emperors in the past, there was only one with the humblest background, and that was Zhu Yuanzhang. Liu Bang was a pavilion chief after all, and Liu Xiu could barely hold up the aura of the clan. Most of the others came from aristocratic and powerful families. For example, Zhao Kuangyin's family had been officials for generations. By Zhao Kuangyin's father's generation, he was already the commander of the Imperial Army of the Later Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, from the establishment of a huge empire in the Western Han Dynasty until the Ming Dynasty, all the powerful people in the orthodox dynasties of the past dynasties were nobles from aristocratic families. The proportion of social resources and wealth they possess is far greater than that of the peasant rebels. Once the world is in chaos and all heroes compete for power, this group of people will be the first and easiest to benefit.
"If this is the case, then there was no large-scale peasant uprising in the Song Dynasty. If it was just tax revenue, the Tang Dynasty could also collect tax revenue, but the scale of the peasant uprising was very large."
Wang Zeng asked a key question, and it is also a question that everyone wants to know.
Zhao Jun has said this before. Although peasant uprisings have been frequent since the Song Dynasty, they have not shaken the foundation of the country. The largest Fang La uprising only lasted a year and was put down, so everyone is curious.
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "This is the strange and lucky thing about the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty did not suppress land annexation. The cake was almost divided in the early Song Dynasty. Under normal circumstances, this kind of dynasty would definitely break out a large-scale uprising. For example, in the early Song Dynasty Wang Xiaobo's uprising, but Wang Xiaobo did not cause much turmoil. The reason is that the productivity of the Song Dynasty has been improved, and the people can barely survive."
“You mean the agricultural revolution triggered by Champa rice?”
Yan Shu quickly remembered what Zhao Jun said before. Champa rice was introduced as early as the Zhenzong period. Nowadays, the south transports a large amount of grain to the north through water transportation every year. This is because Champa rice has taken root in the south, allowing people in the south to Rice production nearly doubled.
Zhao Jun said: "Yes, the emergence of Champa rice caused a sharp increase in the population of the Song Dynasty. Productivity increased significantly, and the cake became bigger. Although a large number of landless farmers appeared, due to the increase in the total amount of social wealth, these landless farmers Farmers can have more options. For example, they can go to cities to engage in handicraft manufacturing, service industry, metal smelting, construction, etc., so that they will not starve to death."
"And after the development of these industries, they can also drive the original surplus food output, promote economic development, and increase the labor employment rate. It can be said that God was favoring the Song Dynasty. If this agricultural revolution had not formed, the subsequent Fangla Uprising, the Song Dynasty Basically, it needs to be cool.”
"In addition, starting from the Han and Tang Dynasties, the land of China has opened up the road to the West. By the Song Dynasty, merchants from Central Asia and even Europe had appeared in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Bianliang and other places, through foreign trade, export Silk, porcelain, tea, ironware, lacquerware, paper and other products, gaining a lot of wealth."
"Historical records show that during the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Rushi, who was promoted to the Shipping Department of Quanzhou City, wrote in "Zhufanzhi" that the overseas trade scope of Quanzhou Port starts from the Philippines in the east, Dong'an in Africa in the west, Japan and North Korea in the north, including the Western Pacific Ocean With fifty-eight countries and regions in the Indian Ocean, the annual import and export trade volume has reached more than 100 million yuan, which can be said to be a gathering of merchants and prosperity."
"And this is only Quanzhou Shipping Department. The other cities in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Mingzhou, and Mizhou all have shipping departments. Every year, the import and export trade between various countries and the Song Dynasty exceeds 340 million yuan. The small court of the Southern Song Dynasty can rely on half of the country. Today, taxes are only much higher than during the Northern Song Dynasty, all thanks to these treaty ports and commercial taxes that account for 80% of the total fiscal revenue."
"So in terms of production relations, through the increase in productivity and total wealth, coupled with appropriate policy measures, the Zhao family can barely maintain their status as kings. In addition, by the Song Dynasty, the power of the aristocratic families was already very small , forming a pattern of "nobles but no nobles" to ensure the stability of Zhao and Song Dynasties."
"But when it comes to family power."
Zhao Jun spoke for a moment, then said with a smile: "From an objective point of view, the old Zhao family has one more person to thank."
"Thank someone? Who?"
Zhao Zhen wondered, why didn't he know who the old Zhao family wanted to thank?
"Huang Chao!"
"Huang Chao?"
"Yes."
Zhao Jun said: "The Huang Chao Uprising swept the entire Tang Dynasty, killing the noble families until they were weak, and the establishment of the imperial examination system allowed the rise of the poor civilian class. These two are the main objective conditions. Without these two factors, It is difficult to achieve the situation of "there are nobles but no nobles" in the Song Dynasty."
"The subjective condition is that Zhao Kuangyin adopted a political system of three government offices and two departments, which greatly strengthened the centralization of power. And although most of the officials entered the official position from the outside, if they want to become the top high-level officials, they must take the imperial examination. official."
"Even someone from a big family like Lu Yijian has to pass Jinshi to serve as prime minister, let alone others. This makes it very difficult for Menyin officials to rise to the top, unable to stand at the top of power to seek benefits for their family. Over time, the former Naturally, aristocratic families are no different from ordinary local landlords."
"So in the Song Dynasty, there was neither a large-scale uprising at the bottom nor the power of aristocratic families replacing the imperial power. The reason is that through the improvement of productivity, ordinary people from poor families could have enough to eat, and the imperial examination was a way to rise, which reduced the large-scale reduction of power at the bottom. uprising."
"In addition, the dual objective factors of the Huang Chao Uprising and the imperial examination system have seriously weakened the power of the aristocratic families. In this way, the aristocratic families have no capital to rebel, and the people have no soil for uprising, and the politics has become very stable."
"At the same time, even in the case of serious land annexation, the two tax laws and a complete commercial tax system can allow the Song Dynasty to have sufficient fiscal revenue and maintain the stability of the army through spending money."
"The increase in productivity, the protection of tax revenue, and the weakening of the power of aristocratic families combined to construct the rule of the Song Dynasty monarchs."
"It can be said that if there were no external enemies such as Liao, Xixia, Jin, and Mongolia, the Song Dynasty would have been the most stable dynasty in history. But it can also be said that it was precisely because the Song Dynasty over-strengthened its internal management and was too defensive against generals, common people, scholar-bureaucrats, and clans. As a result, martial virtue is not strong enough, and foreign enemies have an opportunity to take advantage of it."
"You can't have your cake and eat it too. Under the feudal social system, the rule of the Song Dynasty has basically reached its peak, but it can only go so far. No matter how strictly guarded internally, it is only self-castration. Once external forces impact, it will As fragile as an egg.”
"In the final analysis, the emperors of the Song Dynasty were too stupid and did not stand on the side of the people. Mencius had long said that "the king is the most important, the country is the second most important, and the people are the most important." Don't think about the brainless emperors of the Song Dynasty, the landlords Class and scholar-bureaucrat class. Without the emperor, it will just change to another dynasty to continue to dominate. Without the emperor, the dynasty will be destroyed, so what does it have to do with them?"
At the end of the sentence, Zhao Jun's throat became dry again, so he drank some water to moisten his throat. Although I don't really like Song history, "Ancient Chinese History" is a serious course that studies the political systems of various dynasties and major events in the country.
By taking history as a mirror and conducting in-depth research to find solutions to problems, we can understand the reasons for the rise and fall of dynasties. Therefore, he still explores these profound issues relatively clearly.
And this knowledge was exactly what the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty needed.
What the ancients lacked was not wisdom, but insight and cognition.
Even many of the more profound things were understood by the ancients.
For example, they were not unaware that land annexation and the enfeoffment system were the fundamental causes of the collapse of the dynasty.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Shi Dan proposed "limiting land and slaves", and in the early Ming Dynasty, Ye Boju pointed out that "enfeoffment would cause the vassal king to be extravagant, lose his tail, waste finances, and threaten the imperial power."
But even so, many dynasties still made the same mistakes, neither suppressing land annexation nor stopping enfeoffment.
The reason is that the ancients only knew what was happening but did not know why. And when I am in the game, I always think that others will do that, but I will not do that, like Zhu Yuanzhang, who made so many vassal kings in one breath, and all of them have real power.
The hard spirit of the Ming Dynasty returned to hard spirit, but there were also many evils that were left behind during the Zhu Yuanzhang period.
After Zhu Di succeeded, in order to appease the feudal kings everywhere, he was forced to spend huge sums of money to support them. At the same time, scholars were also given too much preferential treatment. The Juren and Jinshi Associations were exempted from most taxes, which caused tax difficulties.
As the saying goes, "As long as the loyal and virtuous people die, the Ming Dynasty will never be destroyed." "The Ming army is not satisfied with its pay, but it is invincible if it is fully paid." Although it was done online in later generations, the actual situation is definitely not that simple.
However, after Wei Zhongxian's death, the Chongzhen Dynasty's tax revenue deteriorated, and it was true that in the end he could not even borrow money from his father-in-law.
And through King Fu, he didn't pull a cent, and eventually died tragically. Examples such as the King of Zhou in Kaifeng who was willing to fight against the soldiers who defended the city, and Li Zicheng who fought for a year before relying on the flooding of the Yellow River to win, all proved that these tricks were not groundless, and also proved that the feudal dynasty could collect taxes. importance.
The Qing Dynasty basically relied on Yongzheng to survive, otherwise it would just be the Guo Zuo of the Yuan Dynasty. Only the Song Dynasty was like an unkillable cockroach, able to stabilize the internal situation and be eliminated by foreign enemies despite such serious land annexation.
It can only be said that the Song Dynasty was indeed lucky. It had Champa Rice to help carry out agricultural reforms, foreign trade maintained commercial prosperity, and it was able to maintain the dynasty without inhibiting land annexation at all. The Song Dynasty can be regarded as unique in history.
